Late to the Party

That's Baxter! He was supposed to have discovered the joys of playing with toilet paper (bathroom tissue, for the more refined) at least a year ago. But to my relief, he didn't.

Well, now at a little over a year and a half old, he has discovered it.

*Swerts!

* Swearword created by older daughter when she used a word she heard her father use when he discovered he had a flat tire. He told her she couldn't say that, and she asked if she could say "swerts." He said---sure!

Two Finished Projects!

The advantage of working on several projects at once is that when you pick up one you've had going for awhile, you discover that it's almost finished. That's how I have finished so many things lately, and these two items are among the projects I have finished recently.

The first is the copycat Reese Witherspoon Sweet Home Alabama wrap. It's the first and so far the only project I've done without a pattern. I had some help from Lucille, and it finally came out ok. I had to start over a couple of times to get the needle size (10) and stitch choices (stockinette, seed stitch, yo increases) right, and then I had to start the finish over three times. That's my own fault; I decided that the instructions were so easy that I didn't need to read them.

I had to have an angled end, and on my first try, I started the decreases at the stockinette (top) of the wrap. Nope. The angle was going the wrong way.

Second try: I did the yarnovers on the right side, the decreases on the wrong side. Hmmmm...Odd that the edge is all wobbly.....What's causing that?

So then I read the instructions. Ooops. On the right side, when I did the yarnovers, I needed to knit two together so I wasn't increasing a stitch. What I had been doing was on the right side, increasing one stitch and on the wrong side, decreasing one stitch. Hence the wobbly-ness.

So on the third try, I got it. Whew.

It's finished and blocked and I'm quite happy with it. After I show it off at knit night tomorrow, I'll ship it to younger daughter.

The second project is my sparkly scarf. I love all things sparkly, so I especially love this. Knitting with sequins on the yarn is a little tricky, but just takes patience (which I didn't use to have, but knitting is encouraging me to learn).

Can you see the sparklies???

And on the bad side, Cat has peed on the laundry room floor two nights in a row. We thought he had stopped, but he was just messing with us. Rats...

Chat Bizarre

My summer has gotten way off track. I quit my teaching job (YAY) and planned on doing lots of gardening and other DIY projects. I also planned to join my friend Kathy and go to Art in the Park in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It's held one weekend a month during the spring and summer and many great artists and craftsmen participate. Also, Blowing Rock is a great little town in the mountains, and there are lots of interesting shops there. My favorite is de Provence et d'ailleurs, a French shop run by a very patient French woman who is quite nice about allowing me to practice my French with her.

Because of other trips and my knee surgery, I haven't been able to get there yet this year. Two of my friends did, however, and they sent me a sign that reads: ATTENTION! CHAT BIZARRE
I put the sign on the door to the laundry room (my cat's "office"), where we keep his food and bowls.

This is Lewis, THE cat:

And he must be able to read French because he is turning crazy. Last night he opened the Rubbermaid bin we keep his dry food in. Maybe we hadn't left any food for him to eat during the night; I don't know. He has never done this before and without opposable thumbs, how he managed it is a mystery. But he apparently ate himself into a stupor and didn't wake us earlier than we'd like this morning.

Just now (noonish) I heard a racket in the laundry room and went in to see what was going on. He was trying, again, to open the food bin, even though he has plenty of food in his bowl. So it's just for fun, I guess. He is crazy...